Rockets sign Jabari Smith Jr. to 5-year, $122M extension

On the surface it might seem like that, but you have to remember this kid should still be in college. Odds on him getting better are really good.

I doubt he will ever be a star player, but can he be good enough to justify what will be "good bench player" money in a couple years? Yeah, I think so.

 

Agreed. He ain't even got his MAN Body yet
Still growing and filling out

Rocket River

 

I’d like to see what the rest of the Rockets looked like with Jalen off the floor. I’ve always thought that Bari had the ability to be a primary scorer, but he was never going to get the usage AND his best spots are also Alpi’s best spots. He’s gotten better as a C&S player but it’s probably never going to be a consistent thing.

 

Yes. And for me that was mostly the reason why I don't hate this deal. However, the downside is that Jabari will be making real money for 3 of the next 4 years whereas Bridges was on a rookie deal for those years. Bridges was scoring 13.5ppg on 54/42/84 shooting splits in year 3. Jabari needs to be at least in that range of offense when the extension kicks in to be really worth this contract. He definitely has the tools to be that guy. Still has to show it on the court.

 

I answered the how. I can’t answer the why. I agree, if you have someone ignored, why bother

 

If Jalen was a positive asset another team would have offered suns something for him.

He's blocked in Phoenix....

 

Or, hear me out...perhaps they view Green as part of their long-term plans. Every move they've made since seems to indicate that direction, i.e., loading up on big men, signaling that they will release Beal and start Green and Booker, etc. One of the Suns biggest problems last year was a lack of driving to the basket - Green helps a lot in that department.

 

Sure, if there's anything that seems likely it's calling huge amounts of set plays in the flow of the game for the 6th or 7th best offensive player on the squad

 

I’ve been away from the GARM for a while. Are we getting points that redeem for merchandise or store credit when we bulk post bad takes? Seems like it. ‍♂️

 

With the Rockets holding PHX draft capital for the foreseeable future, I LOVE that they’re committed to build around the SG position and injured/rookie bigs!! Especially with JG as one of those “core” pieces!!

 

Well, I really don’t think that Bari is on the verge of becoming an all-star this season. I do believe he may demonstrate significant improvement, but still not to the level of getting a max deal. I think both Bari and management made a really good deal.

 

Being as he was pulling the strings on those decisions I would have answered exactly the same way. You don’t want to trash the guy on the way out. That’s what this forum is for!!

 

I like KD, but I believe in Jalen’s potential.

 

Haters like you make me want to root for the Suns. The amount of hate Jalen gets on this board is unwarranted. He was a hard worker and a coachable kid.

 

IIRC most of the players played better without Jalen on the floor.

I'm not sure if it's so much of a Jalen thing because he was getting so much usage that if he goes off the floor of course other players who weren't getting much of a chance would shine more.

I think stats like that show more that perhaps other players should have been given more opportunities over Jalen and not that Jalen was dragging them down, just that the team should have probably put more into other players.

I always feel like it was wrong how we did Jabari that first year. Just stuck him in a corner that whole year as he watched everyone else get to do whatever the F they wanted to do. That should have been the year when he was trying out stuff too instead its like we drafted him and said "Ok, you are a 3 and D guy." and that's usually not how you treat a top 5 pick. Usually, you let the guy experiment a lot more and give them far more of a leash to see what you have.

 

By all means, go be a Suns fan. All Jalen fans should follow their guy.

 

In retrospect, he needed coaching MORE than the average player. He wasn’t challenged at any stage of basketball UNTIL he got to the pros, and got drafted by a team with the absolute WORST coach to develop an undisciplined player. AND they surrounded him with the WORST kind of players (CWood and KPJ to be specific, JayGup so he wouldn’t be home sick) to teach discipline. He got better under Ime, but if we’re being realistic he was no better at the end of his 4th season than he was on the first day of his 1st season. He’ll probably fully developed by year 10, which is awful for a top 2 draft pick making max money. There will never be a better indictment that G League Ignite was a bad thing than JG, and I wish that we could roll the clock back and see what JG could’ve been with 1-4 years of high end college ball.